That could work, just not sure if they would want to make the 29 that much longer of a route. I know there is demand for transit in that growing area and Translink has it on the table, just not a priority right now. What they might do is have a new shuttle route that will go around the River District and connect with the various routes around the area. Western terminus could be Harrison Loop or 54th Loop and the eastern terminus could be Market Crossing. That would connect the area with the 20 100 and 116. Either that or modify the 116 somehow with the new River District service from Edmonds to the district and the west portion of the 116 its own route.

Just have to wait until the second half of 2018 for more electric bus trials. The 4 buses for 2018 will be purchased and used for at least 2 years on the 100 as per the current plan. No chance of these buses being on other routes since they will rely on charging stations at 22nd St Stn and Marpole Loop.
For some reason, I can't paste the link to the article about this for Translink and two other agencies in Canada. It's on Mass Transit Mag site and there is a link from the investor relations section of New Flyers website.

It was mentioned at the last public meeting that they were almost done on closing the RFP's. I figured something would have been mentioned by now as the first buses are supposed to arrive early next year. However, there has been some mention of STC getting 54 XN40 next year and the last RFP's are finished. While the general thought is Translink doesn't want more Novas, they are wanting a large number of buses and New Flyer has some big orders to fill as it is. The artic's will most likely be XD60's with XN40's and the hybrids might end up being form Nova. The other part to this is they want to order 4 electric buses, two from New Flyer and two from Nova to compare them which also leads me to believe the order could be split.

As much as some VTC ops would be happy about that, I doubt that's going to happen. Chances are, the D40LFs in storage will go to HTC and the hybrids will go to VTC. The D40LFs at VTC will remain training units since they will be doing the increased training through to the end of the year or more.

Some HTC buses were sent to Phibbs on Saturday night as well. Apparently BTC doesn't have enough manpower to cover the fireworks specials so HTC is doing what they can't. Good possibility of this again on Saturday. There's a reason why they are hiring so many drivers and having afternoon training classes with the D/C40LFs at VTC other than just expansion.

I did an N10 on new year's eve a few years ago and requested to swap my bus for an artic just before the trip, I was doing 404/430 earlier in the night. Tcomm told me there should be enough extras out to handle the loads. As I was heading in over the Granville bridge, I saw a few loaded artic's and 40 footer N10s heading south and figured I would be ok. I was wrong, fully loaded at Robson and people trying to crush on down the road since I had to stop to drop off. I've learnt my lesson, going to push harder if I'm ever in that position in the future lol. I think it was the 3:09 trip from downtown.

Yes they will be using compass for passenger data. They wanted to be able to have tap out data to see where people get on/off to improve service even more with possible short turn routes and stuff like that, but that won't be happening.

Based on the info and conversations with people at the open house, LRT is whay will be built, that part is a done deal. All that's left is to get the remaining funding needed to build it. That and finilizing the layout and getting the contracts done for construction once the complete funding is in place.
And what maege mentioned. Was typing my reply at the same time it seems.

There are a couple artic's in storage that could be put on the 49, but probably not enough to have it be 100% artic. I could see some 40 footers on the 49, maybe placed strategically between artic runs so 60 40 60 40 or 60 60 40 60 60 40 and so on. Until an expansion order for artic's arrive, it's inevitable to have 40 footers on the 49. They could also have the 480 be completely 40 footers to free up those artic's for the 49. It'll be there way of forcing those people to the Canada Line and use the East/West services in Vancouver. I was thinking with the 145 going to PTC interlining with the 143 might free up a few buses with that configuration, but those are probably going to be used on the 43 if there are any extras from that.
The XDE60s will not stay at VTC. They will probably all go back to RTC. I don't know this for sure, but there are no plans to introduce artic's to anything at VTC that I know of. Also simply not enough equipment for that to happen.

They were completed and accepted a while ago, usually final about a month before signup. Probably in planning much sooner that that however.
Yes, the September sheet is the consolidated. Signup started Monday last week so we do this one much sooner than the others to allow for route training where needed for transfers.
January will see further changes and added service from what I've heard. They are spanning the plan out over 2 years I believe so 2018 will be year two. Correct me if I'm wrong on that timeline.

The issue with the XD40s, or any Xcelsior in our fleet for that matter, is the transmission. The ZF are great for being economic and low maintenance from what I've heard, but they aren't the smoothest for a bus. The XN40s are jerky and can take an entire straight shift to finally get it right. I havent had the opportunity to drive an XD40 yet, can be so much better if programmed right. I'm sure the XD40s and other Xcelsiors will be much better with an Allison transmission. The XDE60s are the best in my opinion because of how smooth they are.
The delay in the kneeler is just a software update so that's easy to resolve. Some of the 16000s have the delay while other have none at all.
Rapid mode would be great for every bus for sure!
Based on the RFP's, they are wanting straight diesel for the artics (XD60) with one equipped with a new Cummins engine, the X12 as a test. For the 40 footers, they requested CNG and Hybrid. Apparently they want a BAE hybrid system for future orders instead of the Allison system in use today. The reason being that when it comes time for a midlife overhaul, they make them entirely electric if they wanted. Can't do that with the Allison system.
It's not so much the operator's assessing the pollution from the bus, but rather the fuel type. Straight diesel is the most polluting, better today than 20 years ago, but still the worst. Hybrids will create less diesel pollution due to the function of the engine system, the batteries start the initial acceleration then the engine takes over so there less fuel burnt as well. CNG is just a cleaner fuel, at least that's how it's advertised. Cheaper and easier maintenance from what I've heard.

Right, forgot about those. So to start the 301 402 404 410E 430 C94 C96. The 401 probably wouldn't use it in its current routing as it would just be wasted time for it to go in and out of the loop even if they allowed Buswell to be used regularly, but even then, only the WB 401 would have the most benefit. It mentions adding service to Saba Rd so I could see the 401 EB using Saba R Cooney L Cook regular route same with the 407. Although the city could demand that the 401 uses the loop anyways to get it off No 3 Rd as it has a long unload/load time.

The document states the plan is for 13 bays in total which will break down into 1 for Handy Dart, 4 active bays and 8 layover bays. Chances are, 1 of those active bays will be the drop off bay with 3 for loading which seems reasonable in my opinion. Not so sure about only 8 layover bays though. Probably will be sufficient before the complete overhaul of routes in Richmond. Only the 301 402 404 and 410E (January possibility) will be using it to start.